Case Study

The Entertainment Department: A joined-up approach to social media

This is how I used social media to empower hundreds of performers around the world in a strategy that increased following by 32% and engagements by 96% in a year.

The brief

First, a quick intro to the business ➞ The Entertainment Department – or ted, as the company is known – are creators and implementers of original live entertainment.

Holiday resorts, cruise lines, leading brands, stunning destinations – they’re a go-to entertainment partner for some big players, including TUI.

But while they had a strong industry presence, their social media presence was limited.

They wanted to use social media to attract the best performers from around the UK, while also showcasing their products to create new business opportunities.

Success at a glance

32% increase in following

96% increase in engagements

1k+ UGC assets created

Performers on a stage in front of dramatic lighting

A theatre full of people watching a show on stage

A group of performers on stag holding hats above their heads

The work

Being the first member of staff responsible for ted’s social media, it was crucial to understand the business on a deep level.

There were six different departments – from production to audio visual and studio – and they all had different priorities, so it was vital to understand how they all fit together and how we could take to social media as a cohesive brand.

The aim is to become familiar with your audience on social. You need to be known for one thing, not six.

So, strategy was important, including the behind-the-scenes processes for content requests, content creation and approvals, as the business had a start-up mentality. A hive of activity, always!

Policy was also a priority, with freelance performers representing us around the world – but that presented a huge opportunity.

The full project included:

Strategy
Content creation
Live event coverage
Day-to-day management
Employee advocacy programme
Comment and inbox management
Workshops and company-wide presentations
Monthly, quarterly, yearly and campaign analysis

A group of entertainment team members photographed in an Instagram frame

Harness the power of team members

Those team members around the world…

Greece, Spain, Turkey, Cyprus, Mexico, the Caribbean – there were hundreds of them, performing in exciting, innovative shows on land and at sea.

They were all between the age of 20 and 35, so were keen and active on social media, and had relevant networks who we wanted to showcase our product to, to attract the best performers.

To harness their power, and reach those new audiences, we created an employee advocacy campaign that encouraged user-generated content creation.

The performers would post the content (good content, as well!) on their own channels, reaching their audiences, and then we repurposed the content for the business’ channels, to engage our audiences.

Win-win.

The key things:

A hashtag to use ➞ #WeAreTed: This is one example of when a hashtag works well for a business, as it creates a hub of content, a sense of togetherness, and serves as a trigger to encourage others
Clear guidelines ➞ “What should we post on social media? What shouldn’t we post on social media?” I answered those questions in a simple one-pager, which each performer was given at the start of their contract
Communication ➞ I made myself visible, meeting the teams during their training, and regularly reached out to them via Instagram to request and discuss content

↳ The result: 1,000+ on-brand Instagram posts from team members around the world featuring the company hashtag.

A man holding a camera taking a photo of a DJ

Live event coverage

Many people turn to social media for entertainment.

And being an entertainment company, naturally, entertainment was one of our core content pillars.

That meant getting into the rehearsal studios, out to resorts, onto cruise ships, and capturing our product in all its glory.

Then taking that to social and distributing effectively.

↳ The result: The stand-out content, taking our entertainment to ted’s social media channels, helped towards increasing engagements by 96% in a year

Workshops and presentations

Social media is still relatively new within businesses, so education is a big part of my job as a freelance social media manager.

I regularly produced and delivered presentations to Directors, Senior Management, and the wider business, providing easy-to-understand workshops and strategic updates.

That meant everyone was on the same page with our approach, everyone knew the value of social media and the positive impact it was having; and made collaborating across the business on content creation seamless.

↳ The result: The internal buy-in helped towards a successful social media presence that grew overall following by 32% in a single year